Two Two Two

What a day! It was truly a fun day all around. Eli was tentative about his big day but soon got in to the event wholeheartedly. Eli and I joined Daddy and Eva in bed for a few books. Here Eli received present number one, a book about a little boy and his swallows. He spent a long time on each image image, pointing to everything. After a leasurely time in the posutre we all ambled into the kitchen to begin birthday breakfast prep. Eli was stunned when he turned the corner and saw the streamers and more specifically the bird cage hanging from the lamp. He paused for a while. Soon he scrambled on to the bench and looked into the cage only to discover birds birds birds!!! After our eggs and waffles the children played for long time with the bird cage. Eva understood it was Eli's birthday but had a difficult time with him receiving gifts. After a struggle to get Eli's cage away from him with much protest and saddness, I remembered I had a bird that was not wrapped, suddenly it appeared in a little basket for Eva. They were happy playing with each other. Leslie came up from downstairs and gave Eli some bird books. He immediately opened the pages to recall the names of most of the birds but thrilled to see ones he did not know demanding their name. It was time to go, so we packed up the books in to backpack as he would not leave the house without them. Our destination was the pet store that had an amazing bird collection. We spent a good hour dancing with the parrot, touching the Amazon Red something-or-other. After a quick romp in the park across the street we went to lunch at Alice's. I still have a great image of Eli leaning back in his highchair taking huge bites of his mu shu pork . This was the first time the children ever had their own pancake - they were in heaven. Eli took a good nap as Daddy and Eva went to run errands. We had Naomi, Leon, Jen, Dave, and Zoe over for a birthday playdate and dinner. We set up the table in the living room, planning to be near the fire but we quickly had to extinguish the flames as Zoe was scared. So we all ate our tortelini and sweet potato soup. Eli, who was placed at the head of the table slammed his hands on the table and declared, "CAKE, I want my CAKE!" He was taken back as this huge carrot cake with two candles and birds was placed in front of him. Daddy helped him blow out the candles.

He looks so much older to me now. I can not believe my eyes when he turns the corner. He's wearing bigger clothes and just has a two-year-old air about him. He's a big guy.